Sample tubes, all in a row. Click to enbiggen.

Fyrinnae’s lip lustres are creamy, intensely pigmented lip colors – the texture is semi-solid, somewhere between a liquid lipstick and a regular one, and not even close to being a lip gloss. They offer a ton of shades, most of which are too shimmery or out-there for my tastes, but they have a nice handful of shimmer-free shades as well.

Note that these swatches did stain my arm (for over 24 hours, through two initial wash-offs and then a shower!), so it’s likely that they’ll stain your lips too. I did my lip swatches over lip balm, but even still I was left with a bit of a cherry stain, and I only had each one of my lips for about 5 minutes. For regular application I’m not sure I’d recommend applying them over balm – combined with the already somewhat slippery texture of the lip lustres, it can make things a bit messy. At least in the summer. I imagine in cold weather this would be less of an issue.

Full face swatches – helpful? Weird? Both? NEITHER?

Ocelot: Matte warm dusty-rose pink, very close to the soft pink of an Ocelot kitten’s paw pads and nose.

A light mauve pink. A tiny bit lighter than I prefer my lip colors, but a great neutral shade. Plus the name is just adorable. KITTY TOES.

Pygmy Hippo: Matte medium rosy plum shade, not quite mauve. Neutral-warm.

A plummy mauve. Similar in tone to Ocelot, but darker and more purple. I’ve seen this look lovely on other people, but I don’t think it’s terribly flattering on me. Too purple – makes me look a bit sallow and dead. Again, though, I love the name. Baby hippo belly!

All reds, all the time.

Queer Theory: Very bright warm pink without shimmer.

A vibrant, hot coral red. Like strawberry red on steroids. I love these kinds of shades across the board, so this was pretty much guaranteed to be a winner for me. And it is. Easily my favorite out of the bunch. I’ll be needing a full size. Try to make me stop wearing it. YOU JUST TRY.

1952: Very bright warm red.

A slighty orange-toned red. Similar to Queer Theory, but less pink. A bit of a retro feel to this one, appropriately. I can imagine this color appearing in one of those fabulous illustrated Revlon ads from the 50’s, with some glamorous, red-lipped woman draped over a fainting couch or something. Another winner, and I’ll be needing a full size here as well.

Glamorous Rebel: Bright, rich cherry red.

A darker blue-red. This would be a great winter red. Blue-based reds like this have a tendency to pull pink on my skin, and this one does a bit, but not as much as most others. (It also has the bonus of making your teeth look super white.) Fyrinnae notes that although this is a cool red, it should work for most neutral and olive skin tones – and as someone with a weird pale olive skin tone, I can vouch for that.

I wasn’t sure I’d love this one, but it ended up being my second favorite out of the bunch. Another full size purchase for sure, though perhaps not until a bit later this year because I can’t see myself busting this out much while it’s 95 degrees and everything is melting off my face.

These are all available in sample (1.5 ml) or full-size (10 ml) tubes from Fyrinnae.